FIRST KRAFT, NOW RIM: Ah, the smell of hiring! Shortly after Kraft announced their mass hiring of patent attorneys, Research In Motion (RIM) has put the call out for patent lawyers and patent agents to work in its Canadian and U.S. offices. In fact, RIM wants seven of 'em. This comes after, though not, unfortunately, before the Waterloo, Ont.-based outfit capitulated and paid out a big chunk of change -- $450-million -- to settle a long and extremely tiresome patent infringement lawsuit in the United States last March. The dispute over patents associated with RIM wireless technology has had a deleterious effect on its expansion into the U.S. market and its stock price (proof: the day RIM announced it had solved one of the U.S. five patent fights it has going on, the stock price jumped 20 per cent). The RIM seven, when hired, will have to sort out the other four.